iQIYI and Venice Film Festival Begin a Brand New Cooperation from 2014

(August 31, 2014)

VENICE, Italy, Aug. 31, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- This year's 71st Venice International Film Festival, taking place from August 27th to September 6th 2014, will mark the beginning of a cooperation between the Venice Film Festival and iQIYI. iQIYI is China's leading video streaming site, focused on fully licensed, high-definition and professionally-produced content. This is the first time that the Venice Film Festival, known as founding father of International Film Festivals, has established a close partnership with a Chinese video website.

The strategic cooperation between the Venice Film Festival and iQIYI is a brand new cooperation between two giants. This collaboration will leverage iQIYI's market position, platform advantages and brand value to further promote and broaden the audience of the Venice Film Festival.

Both sides share a common view on films: The Venice Film Festival has been leading the development of European artistic films, focusing on and promoting innovation. iQIYI, over the recent years, has taken important steps to promote innovation and development of the film industry. During the 17th Shanghai Film Festival in 2014, iQIYI successfully initiated the "Online Festival Screening;" it is a branded program of iQIYI, in which excellent festival films are being played online during the festival, enabling the Chinese audience to enjoy international artistic films at home. Furthermore, iQIYI attended the 67th Cannes Film Festival and its New Chinese Film Talents Forum. Currently, iQIYI is not resting; instead it continues to establish long-term "Online Festival Screening" partnerships worldwide.

On July 17th at the dedicated media conference, iQIYI launched its film production division iQIYI Motion Pictures and announced its new "7.1 Film Plan." The plan encompasses iQIYI's ambitious goal to co-produce seven domestic and one Hollywood film within the next year. iQIYI Motion Pictures will leverage iQIYI's online platform to work with traditional film companies in order to raise film funding, conduct market research through 'big data,' deliver marketing and promotional support, as well as operate cinema ticketing services. iQIYI and Baidu, China's number one search engine, are collaborating in different fields including marketing and sales, expanding iQIYI's online platform even further. In the near future, iQIYI and Baidu will together launch a crowd-funding platform for films based on Baidu's current financial services and payment gateway, creating a win-win ecosystem among the Internet, financial service and film industries.

With all the initiatives in place, iQIYI is looking forward to building synergies and creating value in the Internet and film industries, as well as bringing first-class films to its audiences in a customized and carefree fashion.